Who I Quest For
by Ghost 501
Summary: Nep takes a moment to acknowledge why she's here.


"Neptune, please leave the 4th wall alone. It's had enough for the day," Histy sighs as she scolds me once again for my actions.

I try to pass it off as my norm. Eventually, she decides to move onto convincing me of doing work. But there's just one little problem in all this.

I don't wanna do work. Why should I? It's not like Planeptune is going to crash if I do or don't. That's where being a successful video game franchise comes in at. Your world never dies as long as the games keep coming. Therefore, if I do something or nothing, Planeptune lives until it becomes a plot device.

I sigh as I look around the room. Nepgear isn't here, probably doing a quest. Histy is launching into another paperwork lecture and its importance to Planeptune's success.

I look over and "see" that wall. The wall that confirms to me and everyone in here of our status. We're all video game characters. Adorable, sexy video game characters that give laughs and provide fun for people. But sometimes I think I'm the only one who understands how our world works. Doesn't anyone realize that our share energy doesn't come from our nations but the **player**? From the people who complete quest after quest in an effort to raise our shares to help us gain our power. Sure mechanics wise, we're dependent on the NPCs in the area but at the end of the day, I need **you all** in order to live.

If everyone **out there** stopped playing this series, I would die. Boom, no more shares. Just a memory lost to time.

And that's the most depressing part of this all. We all sorta know this. We do Nepstation together. We congratulate the player on finishing the game together. We all know our roles. We all know that there's a thin wall that keeps us in one world and **you** in another. But even knowing this, when I push the envelope, I'm told to just keep it "normal". A comment here or there is okay, but stop with all the unscripted segments. That I should play my nepping part. That despite the fact we know all these things, we should just play along and impress the **player** with our story and character evolutions. With the flashy animations and lovely displays. That as long as we stick to the script, we'll all continue to live.

There's only one problem with that...I don't wanna do that.

I don't wanna go along with the words I'm given to impress the player cause it still hurts. At least if I'm stuck in this life, let me be the one doing the talking here.

Then again, that's the problem with characters who know about the 4th wall. It's impossible to make a comment. After all, at the end of the day, I know that I'm just in someone's imagination. Probably in **yours** too. I know that as long as this isn't a game, nothing I do is of any value. I really don't do anything until the game comes out. Until then, everything else is just a guess at best.

Sometimes, I wish I could just push the wall out of my head.

Heck, I forgot why I started breaking through the 4th wall. Was it cause I thought I could? That that's just my character? Maybe I just wanted to say hi and thanks to **you** for deciding to keep me alive? Or was it because that's the only thing I break around here?

At this point, who nepping cares?

When all is said and done, nothing changes.

Everyone knows I'm the laziest CPU but I don't think a lot of them know why...

How can this main character be the stupidest of the cast? Why do I get all the perks? Why does Planeptune stay afloat when I'm pretty much the worst thing to happen to its government?

Well there's actually a pretty easy answer to them. Because while everyone else plays the game, I'm then one who has to keep track of both them and **you**. I need to make sure that **you're** entertained. Otherwise, Planeptune goes to belly up and I die.

So, in a weird way, I'm the only one actually doing my job.

If I didn't act like the idiot, well I'd probably be a lot less lovable. Sure we make our comments to make the audience laugh, but the series follows me. So if I don't make sure that **you're** having fun, I might as well dig my own hole. My jokes, my charisma, my everything is just to make sure that everyone...that I...live.

"NEPTUNE!" Histy yells in her highest pitch.

"Nepu!" I pretend to cover my ears; her yells have content less potent over the years.

Histy sighs, "Neptune, as a CPU, you must do your work! You can't keep neglecting your responsibilities!"

I nod my head, "I know, Histy. ...I know."

The question isn't my responsibilities.

It's more who I owe them to.

* * *

So the methodology of this story hangs in assuming that Neptune and the others never talk offscreen and therefore has no knowledge of what her friends are thinking outside of the games. Hence the more "selfish" attitude. Pretty much, I may or may not have gone too meta in thinking about 4th wall breaking characters recently and this erupted from it.

Anyway, Ghost 501 logging out. Have a good day everyone!


End file.
